CNN: one of the world’s most Instagrammable hotels is in Budapest – photos!

The Mystery Hotel Budapest is full of optical illusions and is designed for likes on social media.

According to CNN, there is much more to that boutique hotel than what first meets the eye. For example, there are countless lightboxes on the walls, displaying animated pictures that change several times a day, and an elevator partially hidden by velvet curtains. There is a room where you can lie against a headboard with a version of Johannes Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring“, where the “girl” has an iPhone in her hand, or a “party girl” interpretation of Da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa“, complete with VIP passes to Budapest’s Sziget Festival. Furthermore, if you happen to get into the Pythagoras meeting room, you will have to figure out how to open it yourself.

CNN says that the Mystery Hotel located in the 6th district (Terézváros) is

one of the most thrilling hotels in the city.

Once, it was the main headquarters of the Symbolic Grand Lodge of Hungarian Freemasons, inspiring its enigmatic theme today. The fact that it has quickly become one of the most Instagram-friendly places to stay in Budapest is not by chance. The hotel’s designer, Zoltán Varró, admitted to CNN that he had “likes” in mind when conceptualising the property. He added that social media is vital; people keep searching for places that

are not only safe but also special.

Viktória Berényi, the director of business development at the Mystery Hotel, says that social media has helped to bring in a large number of bookings. “First impressions are everything,” said Berényi. Pictures shared on Instagram helped the hotel a lot to become famous among the visitors of the Hungarian capital.

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The building of the hotel was once the centre of Hungarian freemasonry, but after 1920, the building went on to serve as a military hospital. During the Communist era, it housed the Ministry of the Interior and, unfortunately, all the freemason aspects were completely covered. Therefore, it needed to be restored, and today, it is much like it was in the 19th century.